Super Eagles legend Garba Lawal canvas support for Eric Chelle as coach.

According to the former winger, neither Mourinho nor Ancelotti would’ve been under pressure if they were to take up Super Eagles job.

“There is no room for complacency,” Lawal told Brila FM.

“This is not about the NFF; it’s about Nigeria qualifying for the World Cup. Everyone must support the team.

“Even if Mourinho or Ancelotti took this job, they would still feel the pressure.

“Our situation can make the coach to be afraid, but for him to be bold enough to take the job, it is something different.

“It’s not every coach that will take this type of job. It takes courage to take on a role like this, given the current circumstances.”

West Ham United are keen to sign Taiwo Awoniyi from Nottingham Forest as a replacement for strikers Niclas Fullkrug dogged by injuries and Michail Antonio is ruled out for the rest of the year after he crashed his car against a tree in December.
Awoniyi is open to joining West Ham so that he can be guaranteed first team football following coach Nuno Espirito Santo’s preference for Chris Wood as his first-choice striker. Awoniyi’s contract will run out in 2027, but the Hammers are desperate to sign the Super Eagles striker to boost their striking options.
Awoniyi joined Forest when they were promoted to the Premier League back in 2022. He scored only four goals in their first 34 games as they entered a relegation battle with Everton and Leicester City. But Awoniyi found his scoring touch slotting in six goals in his last four games and helped the club beat relegation. Forest under Espirito Santo are second placed in the Premier League table.
Awoniyi has scored 17 goals from 63 games for Nottingham Forest. Awoniyi has only started two of the Premier League’s twenty games since the 2024–2025 season began.
However, Sky Sports UK reports that Forest are not willing to let Awoniyi go this January, unless a replacement is found.

The Board of Nigeria Football Federation on Monday approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development Committee to appoint former ace winger Finidi George as Head Coach of the Senior Men National Football Team, Super Eagles.

George, who spent 20 months as assistant to José Santos Peseiro before the Portuguese voluntarily left the post following the accomplishment of Africa Cup of Nations runner-up position at Cote d’Ivoire 2023, took charge of the squad in interim capacity during two friendly matches in Morocco last month.

His squad edged Ghana 2-1 in the first match, ending an 18-year winless streak against the Black Stars, but then lost 0-2 to Mali in the second game.

George, a member of the so-styled ‘Golden Generation’ that won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Tunisia and emerged the second most entertaining team in Nigeria’s debut at the FIFA World Cup finals in USA the same year, won 62 caps for Nigeria, including featuring at the 1994 and 1998 FIFA World Cup finals. He also won gold, silver and bronze medals from the 1992, 1994, 2000 and 2002 AFCON tournaments.

The 52-year-old former Ajax Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and Real Betis (Spain) forward, who made a scoring debut for fatherland in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Burkina Faso at the National Stadium, Lagos on 27th July 1991, also featured for Calabar Rovers and Sharks FC in the domestic scene before heading to Europe. He assisted Rashidi Yekini (of blessed memory) to score Nigeria’s first-ever FIFA World Cup goal against Bulgaria in Dallas, USA on 19th June 1994.

George had actually scored the goal that took Nigeria to that FIFA World Cup debut, when he put Nigeria ahead against hosts Algeria in a crucial qualifier in Algiers on 8th October 1993. The match eventually ended 1-1 and earned Nigeria a ticket to the finals in America.